Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
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Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The richness of Italian word variations, and a filli billi filastrocca

Dianne Hales writes that the typical
English dictionary has three times as many words as an Italian dictionary, but
she adds that “a single Italian word can reveal more than an entire English
paragraph.” This is so, she says, because “. . . with a prefix here and a
suffix there, Italian words multiply like fruit flies.Fischiare(whistle) sounds merry enough, butfischiettaremeans ‘whistling with joy.’ A sign
outside a rusticosteria(a tavern serving simple food)
summarized its entire menu in three variations on a single word:pranzo(lunch)—fifteen euro,pranzetto(lighter lunch)—ten euro, andpranzettino(bite to eat)—five euro.”

Today I meet an Italian friend,
Alessandro Paccagnella, at acaffetteriato share acafféandcioccolata calda. In a demonstration
of the richness of his language, Alessandro provides me with an explanation of the
main Italian suffixes. Three make things smaller (diminutivi), so a small casa could be a casina, casetta or casella. You could even combine suffixes
to make the house really, really small, a casettina.
Another two make things larger (accrescitivi),
so adding on to your casa could make it a casona
or casacchiona, with the latter
ending usually having an ironic connotation. You can also make your casa sound endearing
by using vezzeggiativi and call it a casuccia or casetta, but if you want to insult
someone’s house, use peggiorativi and call it a casaccia
or casastra. Some verbs, adjectives
and adverbs can also use these endings. We live in the Casolare dei Fiori when
we stay in San Salvatore, and that’s a suffix that Alessandro doesn’t include in
his list. He says it refers to an isolated house in the countryside or mountains. Now that I hear the definition, I realize it is probably a combination of casa and isolare, to isolate.This linguistic multi-tasking was
actually one of my first lessons in Italian. My nonno made up afilastrocca, a nursery rhyme,
that he used to tell with much expression to his seven children, and they in
turn passed it along to their children. Although I never heard the story
first-hand from Nonno, I learned it at the knees of my dad, uncle Rudy, sister
Linda and brother Roger. The reason I say Nonno made it up is that I have never
heard or read anything similar in Italy, and when I told the story to my
relatives in Italy, they just gave me strange looks. Apparently, it was not a story
passed down from Nonno’s parents to Nonno’s brother Enrico. Then too, the story
doesn’t have much of a plot; it is mostly just an excuse to tickle, quite
literally, thebambini.
During the entire tale, the story teller uses his hands to creep spider-like
along the legs, torso, arms and neck of the listener to illustrate the actions
of the main character, the fictional filli billi macola.

Besides being amusing when told in
either Italian or English, it teaches a little about Italian word endings. I
have provided the words below, as they were remembered by Roger and changed by
me from the dialectic inflections that he learned into standard Italian, to the
best of my limited abilities. Keep in mind that this is a story best heard and
felt; it loses a lot of drama in the written form, but if you learn it with expression
and tell it to your 3-year-old, you might see why it was so memorable for me.First, in ItalianC’era una volta una filli billi macola
(use one hand to creep along your listener’s body), che camminava (you can also
substitute filli billi macolava for camminava here) sul filli billi macoletto,
(now use the other hand as well) con cento mila filli billi macolini dietro.
Dice la filli billi macolona, “Filli billi macolate voi altri! Io ho filli
billi macolato assai!” E i filli billi macolini filli billi macolono. At this
point, the story ends with lots of tickling and repeating “filli billi macola”
over and again until the listener squirms away.

This has multiple endings for the
noun filli billi macola, and it also uses it as a verb in several different
persons and tenses. This may not be exactly the way my cousins remember it, but
such is the way of children’s stories. Nobody tells them quite the same way.
Now that I have finally written this down, there is no excuse for my own
children not to learn it. And I will have to make sure that my grandchildren
hear it enough so that they can repeat it for their children and grandchildren.

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About Me

First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.